Letters: The more Chicago wants to brag, bigger the crowd count

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Chicago Cubs fans celebrate before a rally in Grant Park honoring the World Series baseball champions in Chicagoon Friday. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

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With all due respect to the hundreds of thousands — maybe even a million — Cub fans who came out to Friday’s wonderful ceremonies, kudos go to columnist Mike Sneed for once again puncturing the city’s grossly inflated estimate of 5 million turnout. Physically impossible, even including the crowds lining the streets on the parade route.

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She invoked a former colleague from the Tribune who years ago used quasi-scientific measurements instead of the city’s wild, self-serving estimates of the crowd who came out for a papal visit.

Mike Royko, decades ago, did a similar geographic study to find that a city estimate of a million was perhaps a quarter of that size, even considering crowds along a longer parade route.

My rule has long been that when the city wants to brag, it will inflate crowd size by as many as three times the real number. When they want to diminish the size of an unfriendly demonstration–say, civil rights or anti-war, the city will slash the actual number by as much as 65 percent.

Don Rose, Lincoln Park

The Cubs’ lesson

The Chicago Cubs’ World Series triumph after over a century of longing provides much jubilance, learning and reason for hope. The greatest lesson that their victory teaches all of us is that one’s history does not imply one’s destiny.

Leon J. Hoffman, Lake View

Poor planning

I was very pleased when I learned that the Cubs rally would take place in Hutchinson Field, instead of Soldier Field (where only a small percentage of fans were able to get tickets back in 2015). I recalled the excellent rally for the Blackhawks in 2013 that had been held there.

I went to the rally (or to be more exact, I attempted to go). The security checkpoint went extremely well, far better than I could have expected. Since others then headed south, I did the same, where I found myself on the west side of Columbus Dr.

There were jumbotrons in the area around Buckingham Fountain, so after the motorcade had passed, I wanted to go to the rally, but if that were not possible, I at least wanted to watch it on one of the several jumbotrons. Unfortunately, the police were still keeping Columbus Dr. clear of pedestrians, not allowing us to cross, so there was simply no way to cross over to watch the rally on these jumbotrons. I asked one of the security guards where we could cross, but he replied that he did not know, adding that this event had been poorly planned.

I then walked south, with the hope of at least seeing the rally from a distance. Balbo was closed, but I was eventually able to cross, while still remaining west of Columbus Dr. Many others and I were hoping to at least get a glimpse of the ceremony through the fencing, but that was impossible, because many busses were parked on Columbus Dr.

This was very poor planning on the part of the person who decided to put Jumbotrons east of Columbus Dr., while not allowing fans to cross it. It was also poor planning to park the busses where they did.

I am submitting these comments in the hope that things would change for our next big rally.

Larry E. Nazimek, Logan Square

Not enough

The Obama Administration decision to delay further construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, with the possibility it may be relocated from Indian lands and water supply is welcome news. But it is not enough. The government was negligent in not fully vetting the environmental impact of the proposed oil conduit on the Standing Rock Sioux and all of humanity. The builders were arrogant and heartless in assuming they could steamroll the most marginal of American sub groups when they demanded the Standing Rock Sioux to stand down from their blocking the defilement of Mother Earth.

The Dakota Access Pipeline should not just be delayed. It should not just be detoured. It must be dismantled.

Walt Zlotow, Glen Ellyn

FBI sting

Well, I guess we now know what an FBI “sting” means in a presendential election year involving Hilary Clinton. it mean non-stop investigation of email, unauthorized leaks, suspicious documents from Russian hackers and a Director James Comey “surprise” in October a few days before the election.

Obviously, Comey and band of emails sleuths are trying the best to undermine Clinton’s campaign without and proof of a crime being committed. I wonder how much “secret” money is ffnding its way into Comey’s pockets?

Tom Minnerick, Elgin

Your party is no help

What took you so long, Republican base, to realize your party hasn’t acted in your self-interest for years? Republican trickle down economics benefits only the super rich, not you. Republican appointed Supreme Court justices, in the majority for decades, never overturned Roe v. Wade and gave you same-sex marriage. You wanted income tax reform. Yet your party supported tax cuts for the super-rich and tax loopholes for large corporations. Your party has no intention of taxing over $2 trillion of overseas corporate profits but provided no tax relief for your small businesses. Apparently you don’t want Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid or health insurance because your Republican party opposed these “socialist” programs since their inception.

One more question: Why the hell did you nominate Donald Trump? All you have in common with Trump is anger.

Bob Barth, Edgewater

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